127th Annual Rose Parade

If you’re living in or visiting beautiful Pasadena at this cheery time of year, your plans for New Year’s Day have just been set. Beginning at 8 a.m. on Jan. 1, the 127th Rose Parade presented by Honda will march 5 1/2 miles down Colorado Boulevard in an expansive, colorful wave of floats, marching bands and precise equestrian movements.

Families with young children – or children of any age, for that matter – will find that watching the parade in person is an enthralling experience. There simply is no better way to celebrate New Year’s Day than here on the streets of Pasadena, among the city’s luxury real estate and alongside family and friends.

Where and how to watch
The parade begins at the corner of Green Street and Orange Grove Boulevard, traveling north on Orange Grove at a pace just slow enough to make sure that viewers don’t miss any details. Moving at 2 1/2 miles per hour, the parade will luxuriate down Orange Grove until turning east onto Colorado Boulevard where the majority of viewers will be positioned. Toward the end of the route, the parade turns onto Sierra Madre Boulevard before coming to an end at Villa Street.

Getting a great seat along the parade route will make sure you don’t miss any of the spectacular acts, like marching bands’ choreography.

For the best views, visitors are encouraged to reserve grandstand seating from Sharp Seating Company. While the grandstands are undoubtedly the best seats in the house, people on the sidewalk will have every opportunity to appreciate the massive undertaking that draws the eyes of the nation to Pasadena on the first day of each year.

About the parade
Even now, with more than a century under its belt, the Rose Parade is still as vital and energetic as ever. It is as American as a celebration of the New Year gets, brimming with native flowers, brassy music and the love for community that has made this nation great.

According to the Tournament of Roses website, around 80,000 hours of combined volunteer manpower go into making the event so spectacular year in and year out. The nearly 1,000 volunteer members of the nonprofit Tournament of Roses Association are all assigned different tasks, from assisting in media relations to leading community presentations about the event.

After the parade is over, many will be going on to watch the famous Rose Bowl Game.

Easily recognized by the idiosyncratic white uniforms they wear, the volunteers are known by the affectionate nickname “White Suiters.” Anyone watching the parade on Jan. 1 should know that the men and women they’ll see along the parade route and at the Rose Bowl Game later on were absolutely essential to the experience.

While the Rose Parade is always broadcast by a number of TV networks, there really is no substitute for seeing it live and in person. It is a celebration the whole family can enjoy together before sitting down to the American tradition of watching a great college football game.